How Many Books Are There On Earth? Google Knows

Much like search marketers may salivate over some new piece of inside SEO info that Matt Cutts (or someone else at Google) shares, some book lovers seem to be fairly excited over an Inside Google Books blog post yesterday that answers the question, How many books are there in the world?

If you’re really into books, Google’s blog post gets all “inside baseball” about how the company determines what actually constitutes a book, and why the number changes a couple times each week. It comes across as a fairly painstaking and challenging process. But I’m not sure the idea that Google may be digitizing close to 130 million books will change the minds’ of the company’s critics.

About The Author

Matt McGee is the Editor-In-Chief of Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. After leaving traditional media in the mid-1990s, he began developing and marketing websites and continued to provide consulting services for more than 15 years. His SEO and social media clients ranged from mom-and-pop small businesses to one of the Top 5 online retailers. Matt is a longtime speaker at marketing events around the U.S., including keynote and panelist roles. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee. You can read Matt's disclosures on his personal blog. You can reach Matt via email using our Contact page.